Video poker at heart of reputed mobsters' trial

Prosecutors say Sarno ran 'full-size criminal conspiracy'

November 12, 2010|By Andy Grimm, Tribune Reporter

Not long after a 2003 confrontation between reputed mob boss Michael "Big Mike" Sarno and the owner of video poker-machine distributor C&S Coin Operated Amusements, an explosion ripped through the front of the Berwyn business.

The reason, federal prosecutors said Friday in the racketeering trial of Sarno and alleged members of his crew, was to send a message that it should not horn in on Sarno's video-gambling turf.

"Who would care about what C&S Amusements does that much? The competition, a racketeering conspiracy that itself made money from illegal video gambling," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Donovan in his opening statement to the jury. He held up a twisted hunk of metal that had been part of C&S's front door.

Donovan said evidence from witnesses, wiretaps and a bug planted in a Cicero pawn shop will make the case against Sarno, also known as "The Large Guy," and four members of his street crew.

Donovan said the crew scooped tens of thousands of dollars weekly from poker machines throughout the suburbs, plotted violent jewelry-store heists and burglaries, fenced stolen merchandise and used crooked cops to keep tabs on the authorities.

"The enterprise was a full-size criminal conspiracy that made hundreds of thousands of dollars for its members," Donovan said.

The trial of Sarno, Mark Polchan and alleged co-conspirators Casey Szaflarski, Samuel Volpendesto and Volpendesto's son Anthony will resume Monday morning with the defense's opening statements. Sarno's attorneys say their client, who was convicted in a racketeering case with mobster Ernest "Rocco" Infelise in the 1990s, is not guilty.

The mob suspects were mostly impassive as they sat through Donovan's opening remarks after nearly two days of jury selection. Wearing a casual blue fleece top over his bulky frame, Sarno occasionally smiled at his wife and son seated in the gallery.

Slumped in a wheelchair at the defense table, 87-year-old Samuel Volpendesto gazed at the jurors. Behind him, his son Anthony — who was removed from court last week during pretrial hearings for interrupting U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman — sat calmly peering over his glasses as he scribbled notes.

Among the witnesses slated to testify are dozens of restaurant and tavern owners who claim Sarno put video poker machines in their businesses and split the cash that customers pumped into the machines. Donovan said Polchan was pulled over by investigators after his weekly stops at just three establishments and had $6,200 in his pocket.